By no means is my Ground Station as elegant as the AIO’s with integrated gimbals etc. But i wanted to show it nonetheless. I was using a haphazardly connected mess of wires and boards for too long, nearly destroying a Raspberry by short-circuiting it on the PSU.
So I wanted to do better and make it robust and portable. Also, even though i have no intentions of breaking any records, I wanted good reception. I had an original SmartiPi case laying around with the Raspberry Pi 7" Official Touchscreen. The backend of that case was rather low profile, but after some looking around i found out there was a new version with an optional ‘fat’ rear end (say it with me: ‘I like big butts and i cannot lie…’). So I ordered one and promptly left it sitting on the shelf for months.
Since I have been more active in the project again lately it also forced me to finish this job, it turned out super easy and might actually help someone else. What I did was simple:
- Find an old USB 2.0 HUB
- Destroy the casing to get the PCB
- Disconnect the +5V power coming from the PC end in the cable
- Connect +5V directly to +5V out from ESC
- Connect GND to GND from ESC
- Connect GND and +5V to JST connector also
- Plug JST connector into Raspberry Pi GPIO header for power
- Remove said JST header again and splice in extra +5V and GND for Touchscreen
- Assemble SmartiPi case without backend attached
- Insert Raspberry Pi into SmartiPi case
- Get the Touchscreen hooked up with DSI
- Remove Raspberry Pi from case again because i forgot SD card (cannot use SD extender with this case unfortunately)
- Firmly attach Raspberry Pi in SmartiPi case
- Take Dremel and molest the SmartiPi backend for XT60 connector, antenna through holes and cooling fan
- Glue in support frames for Taobao cards
- Cram the USB hub and ESC in there as well
- Solder the ESC to the XT60
18, Connect USB hub to Raspberry Pi - Connect Antenna connectors to Taobao cards
- Close SmartiPi cover and secure with screws
- Attach Antennas
- Attach LiPo
- Stare in amazement as everything works the first time…
Honestly, it is quite easy to do, I’m sure I could have done a nicer job, but the Dremel and I had a small disagreement which I lost. The Ground station is portable, allows the connection of up to three additional USB devices (joysticks, USB Memory sticks, whatever). The screen is poorly visible in direct sunlight, so I will create a hood for it sometime soon.
And some pictures:
